Kozhikode: Six persons including a father and son have been arrested for allegedly raping three minor girls of a tribal hamlet for over a period of several months in Wayanad district, police said on Tuesday.

The girls studying in V, VI and VIII standards had been sexually abused by the accused in different places in Wayanad with the support of one of their relatives for the past one and half years, DSP Y R Restem said.

The issue came to light when the youngest of the girls told her misfortune to her Anganwadi teacher and a tribal activist.

The accused, arrested yesterday from different parts of the district were identified as Ravi, his son Renjith, Mallesh, his brother Ganesh, Santhoshkumar and K Biju, Restem said.

Eleven more persons were involved in the crime, Restem said, adding police are on the lookout for them.

The accused were produced before the Magistrate, who remanded them to 14 days judicial custody.

They were charged under various sections of IPC, SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act (1989) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012.